Someone asked me this last night, I I came up blank: While there are lots of songs about weaving (and waulking), there don't seem to be any about knittingt--an equally ancient occupation. The only one I could think of os a recent Lynne Noel composition "Picking up Tops". Anyone out there know any?

Knittershanty is on my site. cresby.com in .pdf form, words and staff notation. Tune is a derivative of "New York Gals". Look for Cresby's songs. The subject came up in a previous thread and I e-mailed a few people.when I get the moments I intend to submit it here. ......purl one, drop one, sodit pickitup, oops! cast off me girls..........ngargh

If you put the word "knitting" into the search box at the Levy Collection, you'll get 21 documents. The first five of them are: (1) Title: Knitting Song. Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Written and Composed by Muriel Bruce and Baron Aliotti. Publication: New York: Chappell & Co., Ltd., 41 East 34th St., 1915. Form of Composition: strophic with chorus Instrumentation: piano and voice First Line: Marching, marching thro' the misty night, peering thro' the dark First Line of Chorus: Knitting, knitting, knitting, with the Khaki wool and grey (2) Title: Knitting Song. Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: By Floy McGlashan. Publication: Sedalia, MO: A.W. Perry's Sons, Music Publishers, 1918. Form of Composition: strophic with chorus Instrumentation: piano and voice First Line: We have joined the Red Cross Army with its thousands thousands strong First Line of Chorus: We are knitting, knitting, knitting all the day

(3) Title: Stick To Your Knitting.[no images given--MS] Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Book & Lyrics by Wm. Carey Duncan and Oscar Hammerstein II. Music by Vincent Youmans and Herbert Stothart. Publication: New York: Harms, Inc., 1923. Form of Composition: introduction and refrain Instrumentation: piano and voice First Line: I'd knit and knit till it seemed like "Kingdom come" First line of refrain "Just you stick to your knitting, dear, and the hours will run" (4) Title: There's a Girl Who Is Knitting for You. [Note the entire proceeds from the sale of this Song go to the American Red Cross]. Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Words by George Hopkins. Music by Florence Mills Nixson. Publication: n.p., 1918: , . Form of Composition: strophic with chorus Instrumentation: piano and voice First Line: Ev'ry girl, ev'rywhere who is not over there First Line of Chorus: There's a girl who is knitting for you (5) Title: I'm Knitting a Rosary. Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Words by Robert Levenson. Music by Vincent Plunkett. Publication: Boston: D.W. Cooper Publishing Co., 224 Tremont St., 1918. Form of Composition: strophic with chorus Instrumentation: piano and voice First Line: Sitting in the twilight, knitting in her hands First Line of Chorus: I'm knitting each day for you, while you're across the sea

And since knitting was the kind of thihgs the old sailors would have done, I'd be surprised if there weren't songs that would have gone with it. But I suspect that they'd probably have been about things other than knitting.

A serious answer to the question:- Certain places in the England and Scotland have a tradition of knitting. I am sure that other places also do, but I do not have information on them.I suspect that the Shetland Islands have songs related to knitting, or sung by knitters whilst knitting. Closer to my part of England, in the Yorkshire Dales, the village of Dent was well known for its knitters. The women of the village had a distinctive technique - I think that one of the needles was fixed to a belt, leaving hands free to control the wool and the other needle. Their knitting was very fast and their demeanour serious. They were known as the Terrible Knitters of Dent. The women were known to sit in groups knitting, and songs were used to set a rhythm for the work. I have found a couple of references to songs of the Terrible Knitters on the internet. They may provide a starting point for research into knitting songs! Dent Primary School. A history of knitting in Dent. This page contains a verse from the Terrible Knitters. I hope some of this helps.Quack!Geoff the Duck!

When I knit, which is daily, I find I have to concentrate on the pattern too much to be able to sing. That's when I listen to all my cds with lyrics- I can let one part of my brain listen and the rest of my brain chant, k2, yo, k1, k2tog, yo....etc.

actuallly makes sense for there NOT to be knitting songs - because even though knitting may have been done in company - it was a solitary activity. no need to co-ordinate with another.

And though people don't realize it - most of the "knitting traditons" in the British Isles are less then 200 years old. (Not that people didn't knit - but women knitted for their own households. Aran sweaters, 'fisherman knit's; and most FairIsle patterns are relatievely young. Ditto with Shetland shawls, etc.)

I have a number of books on the history of knitting which was often done by men - particularly fishermen. If anyone else has books on the subject written by Sarah Don the photographs were taken by my brother who had the misfortune to be married to her for too long. This Sarah Don not to be confused with the other one married to Monty Don and does gardening stuff.

Someone told me recently they went to a ceilidh in Ireland and were puzzled by all the ladies sitting around the outside knitting and no band. When it came to start dancing someone said something and all the knitting ladies started to sing or chant or do mouth music - and the rest danced to that. Now that is what I call a knitting song.

Deni Couch wrote a lovely song called Fairisle about the wives of fishermen from that island knitting their spouses jumpers to wera whilst at sea, each one had a different design, so they could be recognised if disaster happened, it is on Mad Rush's 'How Well I Remember CD . Deni is a Mudcat member and runs The Hyde Folk Club in Plymouth, I'm sure she'd be happy to sell you her CD! Cheers, Lucy

Some years ago, "Piecework" Magazine ran an article about knitting songs. You could check back issues. Incidentally, if you want to knit for our troops, check out The Helmetliner Project. You can download the patterns on the site.

There's the shearing to knitting song I wrote as a parody to "Gathering Flowers for the Master's Bouquet". Written in 1999 during the shearing season. It has a gentle dig at Christians but it's not seriously offensive.

SHEARING THE WETHERS

Death is an angel sent down from the blue With thin bony hands he will clip me and you Crutching and wigging he'll sort out the dags To send to the Devil in calico bags.

Cho. Shearing the wethers for the Master's wool coat And a nice fluffy muffler to wrap 'round His throat. Angels to sort out the sheep from the goat Each soul is a staple in the Master's wool coat.

Loved ones are passing each day and each hour Right through the sheep-dip and treatment for scour* Pure and pest-free and woolly we'll wait For the last bell to ring at the last wool-shed gate.

Let us be passive till grazing is through And shearing and sorting and spinning is too Then we'll be gathered without burr or stain And knitted by angels in rib, purl and plain.

How bizarre…I just wrote two songs on the subject, fairly convinced that they were tapping a hitherto unmined resource. I'm about to record one, 'Davy Cross' a sad but true story told to me in Flamborough many years ago. The latter, 'Five Whalebones', I include for your delectation.

FIVE WHALEBONES

The fisherwife has spilled her blood upon the moonlit shore And cries out to the howling gale amid the ocean's roar 'Oh bring me back my son!" she screams, the seagull's mocking cry Screams back, 'See now where love must end, For those who brave the sea shall surely die!'

Five whalebones chatter as dolphins do Five whalebones twist the yarn Five whalebones whisper the fisherwife's prayer All to keep her men from harm

Late in the night there came a knock upon her cottage door And standing there an owl-eyed girl, she'd never seen before 'I heard your call', the maiden said, 'across the wind and foam, I bear a gift of life, a charm To bind your loved ones fast to hearth and home'.

And in that lonely cottage then, throughout the stormy night The maiden taught, the wife she learned by fire and candlelight When grey dawn came, the maid had gone but there upon the floor A seawife's charm, a mystery That brings the fisherman safe home to shore

Five were the whalebone shards she took and sea-dark was the yarn Five times five the knots and twists to keep her man from harm Blue was the shirt she made her man, a garment strong and proud An endless thread for the quick and dead For the fisherman's shirt is also the fisherman's shroud

And so it is when wind is shrill and screams a banshee cry The fishermen go down to the sea in shirts of deep blue dye With cables, nets and anchors twined within that endless skein They take the sailor out to sea And bring him, dead or living, home again.

tHAT IS great..it reminds me of something by Kipling where a woman has lost her man to sea and her child to illness and she sits with her mother and hears a baby crying out in the storm..and her mother says it just is a seagull or your grief...she goes out and a baby was out there..ends something like God ..our souls..we let it die in the storm...mg

Just spotted Mario's comment above and must take issue. The method of knitting a fisherman's 'gansey' is such that the garment can be unravelled and re-knitted from any of its four openings. Thus, as the garment wears, it can be repaired since it has no seams. Thus Shakespeare comments in Hamlet, 'sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care'. This is a statement that has to refer to the British knitting tradition since it exactly describes it. You will also find some extraordinary contemporary paintings of the 'Death of Nelson' in various art galleries around the country which show men wearing these garments. Now this makes perfect sense given the activities of the pressgangs. But places the garment in 1805. This is, of course just about 200 years ago but…the method of knitting the thing is so complex that it can hardly have been invented and become universally established around the extensive coasts of these islands at that time. I suspect that, like the fishermens boats in East Yorkshire, the design of their garments goes back a very long way indeed.

"Oh the terrible knitters of Dent Their fingers are gnarled and they're bent And the tourists are staying where inn signs are swaying And the fountain sings Sedgewick's lament."

Apparently both men and women used to knit as a way of supplementing their incomes, creating mittens and socks. It is reported that an experienced knitter could produce ten woollen caps a day using the knitting sticks handed down though generations. However, by early 1800 the trade had collapsed but visitors to the Dent Craft Centre can still see how it was done.

John Kirkpatrick wrote and sings a beautiful song which, if not specifically about knitting, shows its importance in tradition.

A Length of Yarn

All through the town in a hundred houses In every one the lights still burn. All through the town by a hundred hearts For a word of news the hearts are yearning. Deaf to the log fires hissing and cracking. Deaf to the kettles singing and whistling. Only one sound fills their ears And that's the sound of the storm waves crashing.

An old one sits in her empty room And grim she glares at the candle flame, No need to watch her hands at work Nor the ball of wool at her feet unrolling. One year to the day wagoner's cart Brought home her son, all drenched from drowning Brought him home to his new young wife And paid no heed to a mother's weeping

`Cursed be the creaking wagoner's wheels, Which freeze my blood each time they pass. Cursed be the sea whose crashing waves Robbed me of my son, rob me of my sleeping, And cursed and cursed be the sweet young wife, Who stole a son from his mother's loving, Stole him living, stole him dead And scarcely gave gave him three months' mourning.'

`Nine months I held him in my womb And my son's blood ran free with mine. Nine months I held him at my breast His food all milk of a mother's making. And nine long years I watched him grow And nine years more to make him man. Now all I had is lost and gone, She's a hard and heartless whoring hussy.'

All through the town the lantern swings As the creaking wheels come rolling by. All through the town the doors swing wide To see who still stands and who they carry. Here's one more man has lost his life. Here's one more house has gained its grieving. But an old one's tears are bitter and hard As she stares at the clothes to his body clinging.

`I know the hand that sheared the fleece, That was the hand of my father dear. I know the hand that span the yarn, That was the hand of my own sister. And mine the hand that knit this smock, And mine the son who wore my stitching. And here it lies on another man's back And it grieves my heart beyond all telling.'

`See here, there's the place where a length of yarn Is tied in knots, all ragged and charred. That's the time when the candle fell And burned my wool to a smouldering cinder. Damn the work to make it good! Damn the wool and damn the candle! And damn this man who wears my cloth And damn the one who gave its wearing.'

A young one sits in her empty room, In floods the tears come flowing down. Feels her belly softly stir, Feels her breast a-gently swelling. Here's one more child has lost its father, One more woman who's lost her man. Here's one more mother all alone With one more curse that's hard to carry.

There is a lot of folklore about traditional Turkish sock patterns. They were used to encode specific messages when sent to distant recipients, like "it's a boy" to a husband who was away working in another town.

Refresh, because there are some lovely suggestions here. We seem to have established a tradition, my husband and I- last year we played and sang for a knitters retreat, this Sunday we will play and sing for a UU church service on "the spirituality of knitting". (I still don't have a tune for the Cicely Fox Smith song, Charlie, but I would love to write or find one!)